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Mist Walkers Wiki
Characters Joland Hugann Herbert Chonkers Quel Mist Walkers The bastions of civilization are mostly isolated. By terrain, by monsters, by weather, and by supernatural or other dangers. However, scattered across the world are the "mist pools". These small portals lead to the Mist Ways: strange, otherworldly places, if you trek through them in only a few days of travel you can cross hundreds or thousands of miles. Some suggest that the places connected by the Mist Ways are not even always part of the same world. They certainly can be strange enough. A loose confederacy of brave men and women walk the Mist Ways, bearing goods, or messages, or even guiding people. They are called the Mist Walkers. It is a dangerous life, for the Ways are strange, and full of danger, and it is very easy to get lost, never to return. Beyond that, the play and the characters are more the focus than the world. As such, it's intentionally a fairly typical fantasy type world. The technology level is the typical anachronistic cleaned up medieval with some Renaissance elements; plus a few steam powered minor industrial revolution elements here and there, because I couldn't resist. The only available player race is human. There are no elves or dwarves (as we'd know them); the only other humanoids are the thoroughly inhuman, such as trolls and fairies. Humans do, however, come in more flavors than typical. If you want pointed ears, pastel hair or skin, horns, or to be half or half-again sized, be my guest. Religions Many religions are practiced in the myriad lands connected by the mist pools. There are three major types: monotheistic, polytheistic, and local/animistic. -Monotheists believe in a sort of abstract and distant diety, whose form is unknowable, but may have multiple aspects. -Polytheists believe in a clan of beings with epic power, but who are also very human in attitude and behavior, just at epic scale. For whatever reason, a majority of polytheists are convinced that they all follow the same pantheon, but that just has different names and aspects in different places. -Localists or animists worship the (objectively real) local spirits and beings. The fact that their "god" might simply be a reified earth elemental doesn't distress them in the slightest, for they typically have a symbiotic relationship with them. The most common polytheistic creation myths have the goddess of night (Nyx, most popularly) and the god of day (Ord or Uru) giving birth to the world. Magic When clarification is necessary, "Myst" is an acceptable spelling to refer specifically to the magickael mist: myst pools, myst ways, creatures of the myst, etc. Sorcery Some people are born with the Gift, others awaken it after being exposed to the supernatural. The Gift allows a person to practice Sorcery. Sorcery includes sorcery itself, which also requires knowledge of the rare and jealously guarded spells. It also includes some related skills (Alchemy, Circination, Enchanting, Summoning, Death Arts), which can often be practiced without, but are improved by the Gift. None of Enchanting, Summoning, or Death Arts are available to starting players. Sorcery is taxing, wizards become exhausted and even sickened by too much casting. In many parts of the world, Sorcery is regulated by the church, and considered a gift by the gods. Learning it outside the Church is heresy, punishable by imprisonment or torture. House Rule: Spirit Binding and Sorcery can be learned by the same person, but interefere with each other. I might also veto a character starting with both. Summoning Summoning (aka Conjuring) is the art of calling upon and bargaining with named spirits (daimons, to the scholars). For people with the Magic Burner, it works a little differently in this world than the default system. Spirit Binding Spirit Binding (aka also Conjuring, Naming) is the calling upon and binding to service the nameless spirits of the world (anima, to the scholars; if you want to be technical/pedantic, animus is the singular, but generally anima is acceptable). Anyone can bind spirits, but it in much more difficult without a trait that links you to the spirit world, such as Second Sight. You must also have a connection to the domain of the anima you are attempting to summon. Spirits resent being bound, and after being called, the way is open for them to take some retribution appropriate in type and magnitude to the task they were called upon to perform. House Rule: Spirit Binding and Sorcery can be learned by the same person, but interefere with each other. I might also veto a character starting with both. True Belief (Faith) True Believers have such a deep faith in their religion that their minor prayers are answered. Many are of course in the church, but not all. Faith, as the trait is called, works much less well on skeptics, strangely enough. Natural Magic Certain people have such a deep connection to some aspect of the world that by a working that can appear mundane, they can evoke supernatural effects. If you have the books, you can look at dwarves and elves for examples. I'm working on a more limited version for humans in my games; though it may not be available for the start. Magical Parts of the World Of particular interest to mist walkers, as sometimes the Mist Pools will send them there. Faerie and Arcadia The land and the country of creatures born from natural magic. The sidhe live or originate here, as do gnomes, elves (2 foot tall green wearing creatures, most known for building toys), dwarves, pixies, brownies, boggarts, and goblins. Mir, aka, The Veil The place spirits go just after they die. Not a healthy place for the living to venture, but with the right knowledge you can ask questions of the recently dead here. The Netherdom and the Shadow Ways When one dig deep enough (too deep), they broach a shadowed, magical realm within but not quite of the earth. Various dark and unnatural creatures live here, but there is also much of value. Some Mist Walkers have discovered that the strange lightless tunnels and chasms down here can be used much like Mist Ways, this has given birth to the Shadow Walkers (a much less ominous bunch than their name implies, really!). Locations, races, and cultures (Some of you may recognize some of these as being exported from my last D&D game) Here is a list of locales you can be from, or that I might reference, or than an adventure may carry us to. You can think of it as an example, too, of the kinds of places that exist if you make your own. There are few places where the natural shape of the world allows expansive trade and communication outside of the mist pools, but even there Mist Walkers are favored for being able to cross vast distances and avoid enemies in few hours. Tsapis, The City of Spices This city is trapped in a rocky valley, and has few to no natural resources. Even the harbor at the base of the valley has little natural portage. However, it is one of the richest and most populous cities known because every nook and cranny of the valley around it is crammed with Mist Pools. It is considered a kind of unofficial Mist Walker hub, and because of the volume of high value trade that goes through (especially heavy in easily portable things like knowledge and cultural artifacts), a hub of civilization as well. People from every corner of the world have met and mixed here. Natives can have a severe sense of superiority for their own cosmopolitanism. The Eiderwood A vast and shadowy woods, called haunted by nearly everyone who's ever been there. It seems to be more deeply connected to the mist than most places. Small villages are scattered throughout, with people that sometimes have a few of the traits of animals. The 12 Seas A cluster of archipelagos and peninsulas with a mostly Mediterranean climate, it is mostly full of small republican city-states. It is very racially and culturally diverse. One common meme is a distinctive gender role prejudice: men are passionate but flighty, whereas women are cooler and level-headed; so men are soldiers and doers, but women make better managers and commanders. Yalt A moderately sized and relatively wealthy empire, it is a long sea voyage away from the 12 seas. It is mostly tropical and arid. The Yaltish are mostly stocky and brown, but there are many families with unusually tinted skins (blue or red, for instance), among other odd features. They are mildly obsessive about names, and consider themselves very culturally advanced. Slave trade is legal there, but the actual use of slaves is not (they buy or capture them then ship them to other countries to sell). The River Kingdoms A very long temperate valley with a very broad powerful river has given rise to a multitude of perpetually warring kingdoms, like beads on a string. These people especially need mist walkers to arrange pincer alliances. They are mostly fair skinned and dark of hair and eye. Their social attitudes are slightly more primitive and oppressive than those of other places. Gim (pronounced with a hard 'g') The largest empire known to the association of mist walkers at large. Their military strength is great, and they are blessed in agriculture, but they are relatively poor in metals and wood. Racially diverse, but the ethnic Gimmese are dark-skinned, straight haired, and have almond shaped eyes. Their culture tends towards the ascetic. Folderol A bucolic community of farms and villages between a mountain and a river. Most notably, they are very short, 4 feet on average. Coloration varies, north to south, from pale and dark, to tanned and blond, to quite dark skinned. Mythala A ruined underwater city occupied by blue skinned, white-haired humanoids. A profitable place to trade if you have the tools to stay underwater long enough. Mythalans found outside here are almost always a kind of mutant born with grayer skin that makes them more tolerant of dry air, but less able to hold their breath (needing oxygen every half hour or so, instead of the 12 that most do with). Delf A city-state, relatively rich, carved deep into the mountains. The people are very tall (7 foot average!) but lanky, very pale-skinned, and have gray-brown hair. Adaxos A very wealthy city on the shores of a broad and deep lake. They are red-skinned (the natural sort), but some of them have small horns. 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